Leishman the Messiah

The Dunfermline legend is relishing his return to the dugout ahead of todays relegation battle against Dundee United

It can be dangerous to judge an era by how it begins. Just ask Jim Leishman. He was first appointed Dunfermline’s manager in 1983 at the tender age of 29 with them eighth in the old Second Division, or “34th top”, as he puts it, and it took him two months to get a win. By the end of the 1980s, though, he had revitalised an ailing club, taken it to the Premier Division and stabilised it there. His signings reached an exotic peak in Istvan Kozma, who Graeme Souness later bought for Liverpool, and the problems presented were a far cry from his initial worries that his experienced squad would accept him. When he took Kozma out for a meal he had to cluck (chicken), moo (boeuf bourguignon) and oink (pork cassoulet) his way through the menu before finally discovering that the Hungarian international, who spoke no English, fancied